Estelle Getty

Emmy-winning actress best known as a wise-cracking octogenarian on the popular '80s-'90s sitcom The Golden Girls. Getty spent 40 years in show business before winning fame and critical recognition as Bea Arthur's sassy, 80-year-old mother on the hit show, even though she was a year younger than her on-screen daughter and about 20 years younger than the character she played. Getty suffered from Lewy body dementia, a degenerative brain disease, and died in Los Angeles, California on July 22, 2008.